COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is part of the Horizon Europe programme, which allows researchers from different countries to create a cooperation network in order to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and joint development of projects. COST Actions are one of the main ways of carrying out these objectives as well as promoting international collaboration and innovative research projects. The PAAR-net COST Action is an initiative that brings together researchers and innovators interested in participatory approaches with older adults.
For the next four years, the Jagiellonian University will be responsible for the administrative support of PAAR-net, a COST Action presided over by Dr Anna Urbaniak from the JU Institute of Sociology. The network numbers more than 200 experts from 40 countries amongst its members.
During more than 50 years of COST, its has funded about 1,600 Actions, 18 of which were affiliated with a Polish institutions. Dr Anna Urbaniak is the first Polish woman chosen to supervise a COST Action in the area of social sciences prior to habilitation, which is quite a rare achievement. For the Jagiellonian University, participation in this initiative means strengthening its leading position in promoting scientific cooperation, both on European and global level.
Dr Anna Urbaniak is a sociologist and adjunct in the JU Institute of Sociology and the JU Centre for Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies, working within the framework of the JU Faculty of Philosophy. Previously, she worked in the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology at the University of Galway (2018–2020), Institut für Soziologie Universität Wien (2020–2023) and the Cracow University of Economics.
She has extensive experience in gerontology and public policies. Her PhD thesis was awarded in a competition organised by the Polish Society of Gerontology for the best thesis in the area os cioal gerontology (2017). She is the author of several dozen studies devoted to the subject of older adults and the ageing process. She is one of the initiators and co-editors of the Routledge International Handbook of Participatory Approaches in Ageing Research (2023).
